Operation: Teaching Overdrive
by M.L. Shards
Summary: A few weeks before getting his Overdrive Morpher, Mackenzie Hartford has a very weird dream... ☼


**OPERATION:**

**TEACHING OVERDRIVE**

**By M.L. Shards**

Weird idea that sort of just popped into my head randomly…sorry that the fan fiction world must answer for it.

Warning for OOCness that may appear…but all in the name of comedy…

For reference after Feb 27th 2007

This fic was written February 4th 2006, before Operation Overdrive premiered and is/was the first PROO fic on the site if I'm right…

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Mackenzie Hartford sat in the desk and looked around nervously. He didn't know why he was here. He didn't know what was going on. It was four in the morning and he'd been dragged out of his nice warm bed in his father's mansion, thrown into an unmarked black van and then led into this classroom and forced to sit and wait by two men wearing red barrets who had since disappeared.

He'd been waiting for a good hour and wanted to go back to bed, but was way too nervous to.

He looked up at the whiteboard in front of him and wondered if his father had arranged this. He was an adventurer, Mack had always talked about being one too, maybe his dad wanted to teach him it wasn't as fun as it sounded.

"Hello?" he called wondering if this was some sort of weird test, "Where am I? What's going on?"

As if to answer his question a young man entered the room carrying a clipboard and pencil. He had slightly shaggy brown hair and wore a black leather jacket, jeans and a red T-shirt. Mack couldn't help but notice some physical similarities between him and the strange man who appeared to be no over twenty-five.

"Mackenzie Hartford correct?" the strange man asked as he perched on the edge of Mack's desk. Even though he asked a question, he didn't wait for a response, "Course you are. Mr. Scott normally does the introduction course for the newbies to the program however since he is not available tonight and the others have your soon to be colleagues to take care of, I will be your evaluator and teacher of the very very basic."

Mack frowned, "Wha?"

"You can call me Mr. McKnight."

Mr. McKnight hopped off of the desk and moved over the whiteboard. He took the red coloured marker off of the small ledge at the bottom of the board and pulled the cap off, sticking it on the opposite end of the pen. He scratched his nose and turned back to Mack.

"What do you know about the Power Rangers?"

"They're superheroes who go around in spandex and save the world…" Mack replied then pulled the coat he was wearing around him tighter "look can you explain something-"

"There's a bit more to it than that," McKnight sighed rubbing his forehead, "but at least you know about them…"

Mack raised an eyebrow, "What the _hell _is going on?"

"Gah! First rule! Power Rangers do not swear what if the kiddies heard it? It would ruin everything!" McKnight said as he wrote "No swearing" in big red letters on the board.

Mack was prettysure this guy was crazy, "Why am I here?"

McKnight paused and stared at Mack for a good thirty seconds, "Mr. Collins and Mr. Meyers didn't fill you in on the way here?"

Mack shook his head.

"Ah." McKnight turned jotted something down on the clipboard then went back to the whiteboard, "the lovely folks at Disney have chosen you to be the newest red power ranger. But before you can get your suit and powers, you need to know the basics, okay? I and a few others are here to teach you just what to do. As a red ranger you will not only have the responsibility of leading the team that will at one point in time need to save the world, but you'll also have internal issues and have to deal with either falling for a fellow ranger or an outsider or trying to keep your identity secret. However, since you are to work for your father, I'm not sure if you need to be all secretive…"

Mack's eyes were wide and he clutched onto the desk, "You're scaring me…"

"No no no," McKnight sighed, "You've got it all wrong! You are a red ranger! Red rangers are cocky, not meek!" he declared proudly "You don't get a battalizer for being a wimp."

"A what?" Mack asked.

McKnight shook his head, "Never mind, moving on. You appear to not be the role model type, swearing at your teacher and all…now, if I gave you this…" he held up what appeared to be a cellular phone, "what would you say?"

Mack thought for a minute, "I already have a phone?" he asked hoping it was the right answer and he could get out of here quicker.

McKnight slapped his forehead, "Okay, getting back to the basic rules," he sighed, "You are a red ranger, you are to be cocky and sure of yourself. You will be the leader even if the title is not directly attributed to you…just ask Jen. You cannot swear, you need to be a role model for little kiddies. No crude remarks, no unhealthy food, and if it is unhealthy it needs to be in moderation. However for snacks, I suggest smoothies; they seem to be a favorite …"

Mack weakly smiled and nodded. It was too early for this and he wasn't sure what Mr. McKnight was talking about.

McKnight wrote on the board, "Anyways I digress, the basic power ranger commandments-"

"They have commandments?"

"Of course," McKnight replied, "laid down by Zordon himself."

"Who?"

McKnight smiled fondly at him, "Ah young grasshopper, you have much to learn."

"Did you just call me a grasshopper?"

"They are-" McKnight carried on as if the last remark had not been made, "One. To never escalate a fight unless provoked. Two. Never use your powers for personal gain, and three, do not reveal you identity to anyone. Though the last one has been broken many times…" he frowned as he realized Mack was looking around the room, "Are you listening to me? There will be a test later."

Mack snapped his head forwards, "Don't reveal identity, don't escalate a fight, and don't use powers for personal gain," he repeated back in rapid fire startling McKnight and himself that he'd picked up on it that quickly.

McKnight smiled, "Excellent," he ticked something off on the clipboard, "you learn quickly even under pressure. Now just for a few evaluation questions. If you and your team have just morphed and are staring a villain down who has been attacking the city, how do you proceed?"

Mack tilted his head to the side, "Uh…attack the monster?"

McKnight frowned and shook his head as he scribbled something down on the clipboard, "Next question, what is you favorite colour?"

"I've always been partial to blue-"

McKnight narrowed his eyes, "Look kid, I'm trying to help you out here, it would be a lot easier if you just said red…"

"But I'm not a huge fan of red-"

McKnight bolted over to the younger man and slapped a hand over Mack's mouth, "Shh…don't say that around here, that's like committing suicide!" Mack nodded knowingly and tried to get McKnight's hand off of his mouth but he was pinned in place until McKnight loosened the force "If you're going to be the red ranger, you favorite colour, must be red, for all of your clothes will be red and you will always have to wear it."

Mack nodded frantically, "Yes. yes.." he replied nervously, sure that he was going to hyperventilate any moment, "Red, love the colour, it's great…."

McKnight smiled and checked something off on the clipboard, "How many articles of red clothing do you own?"

"I don't know maybe two shirts and a winter jacket?" Mack offered.

McKnight sighed, "We'll get a pink ranger to take you shopping for more red in you wardrobe…maybe Sydney, she likes to shop, alright, the other evaluations come as you go through training, come now, Mr. Evans will measure you for a suit."

"Suit?" Mack wondered aloud as McKnight grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him out the door. That's when Mack realized he was only clad in his black Pajama pants, slippers and coat that one of the men who brought him here had wrapped around him. He flushed and followed the other man.

"By the way, my name's Conner and I was the red dino thunder ranger. Don't forget the few things I've said and you'll be well on your way to being a great ranger," he then leaned down and whispered in the other man's ear, "and don't worry about Cole, he's a little weird with newbies…"

Mack was suddenly horrified as to what that meant. He didn't even notice McKnight shove him into another room where two men both clad in red T-shirts and jeans were waiting. One was darker skinned and bald while the other was Caucasian with longer brown hair. Mack turned to see if McKnight was still there, but he was mysteriously gone. The two men carried on as if nothing had just happened.

Mack looked down at his blue slippers and wiggled his toes a few times before looking up at the two men, trying to figure out what to do next, he cleared his throat, "Uh…" he began then paused as he struggled to find something appropriate to say, "I'm supposed to be here for a…suit?"

The two men just ignored him.

Now Mack was slightly relieved and slightly annoyed. He walked over to the two men who were discussing cars. One how they were good, the other believing they just polluted the environment. He tapped one on the shoulder.

"Uh I'm supposed to be-"

The man snapped his head and let out a loud "RAWR!" Mack jumped backwards and then for some unbeknownst reason (even to Mack), punched him in the nose. The man put his hands over his nose and the other man began laughing.

"Aw, man that was great," he laughed then paused "uh…Cole, you alright?"

"I'm fine TJ," Cole replied wriggling his nose around, "not even bleeding."

"Holy crap! Don't do that!" Mack gasped as he backed away.

"This one doesn't have a sense of humour," Cole sighed pouting as he magically pulled a tap measure out of thin air and handed it to TJ, "alright, let's get you measured."

Mack backed away from them and frantically looked for a way to escape, but alas, found none…He nearly jumped out of his skin when TJ went behind him and began trying to measure his waist.

"Whoa, don't be so fidgety, you want it to fit right, right? Spandex is unforgiving especially if it doesn't fit right."

Mack felt himself near tears. It was too early, he'd been kidnapped by crazy people who thought they were power rangers and that he was going to be one too and now one of them was trying to get him measured for a spandex suit…He sincerely hoped the commotion had woken his father and that someone was looking for him…

TJ was calling numbers over to Cole who was jotting them down.

"You'll love the suit," Cole said, "it's pretty nice looking, but you'll need to be a really good fighter to pull it off because a large portion of it is white and it is hard to get your suit dry-cleaned without raising suspicion."

"Kind of think of someone wearing the Canadian flag, but without a maple leaf and instead a weird compass looking symbol," TJ added and rolled his eyes, "remind me again why we were put on suit detail…"

"Because it's our turn," Cole replied rolling his eyes, "next year, when we get another new red ranger, hopefully Jason will be back and Conner won't be doing the introductions, that way it should be Rocky and Jack's turns. Conner's apparently scared this one half to death."

"And you had nothing to do with that," TJ quipped back sarcastically, "anyways, we have to get the measurements before Tommy can program the morpher to work. It's important."

Cole muttered something to himself before going back to jotting measurements down. Mack bit his bottom lip. He'd considered making a break for it but both men had much more in the muscle department than he did, so he stayed put and moved his arms and legs when TJ asked him.

"He's not wearing any red…" Cole remarked frowning, "What red ranger doesn't wear red?"

"It's a bit short notice!" Mack snapped angrily at the former Wild Force ranger, something in him had just gone off without warning "It's four in the morning and I'm wearing my PAJAMAS!"

There was a slight pause.

"He needs to work on the cockiness,"

"But he has the irrational anger down perfect."

Mack nearly banged his head against the nearby wall.

After the suit measurements had been taken, McKnight (or as he now knew him, Conner) reappeared and dragged him down the hallway yet again. But this time Mack was a little more aware of what was going on and was startled when he was thrown into a room that appeared to be a dance studio with mirrors covering the walls. Two men, both darker skinned and dressed in red sweat pants and black t-shirts stood, waiting.

"Hey Conner," one called over waving.

"Hey Shane, Jack, this is Mackenzie, our new red ranger…"

"I AM NOT A POWER RANGER!" Mack wanted to yell but instead muttered something inaudible to himself.

Jack smiled, "Welcome to the family, I'm Jack, this is Shane; we're here to teach you about posing."

"Posing?"

Shane, Conner, and Jack pulled back from Mack for a second.

"Power Rangers are famous for their poses!" Jack declared proudly pointing up to the ceiling, "the Sailor Scouts have nothing on us!"

"Okay…then…"Mack responded as Shane grabbed his arm and forced him into the middle of the room.

"Now Jack here is pretty flexible and had a nice pose-"

"What do you use poses for?" Mack asked, he was pretty sure he was starting to lose his mind if he was going to go along with this…

"Role calls of course," Shane replied, "before you attack a villain and right after you've morphed, all ranger teams need to do a role call. It's tradition!"

Mack frowned, "but why do a role call? Wouldn't the bad guy just shoot you?"

Shane shrugged, "You'd think so, but it hasn't happened yet."

Maybe if he just went along with all of it, they'd let him go sooner was the train of thought Mack was on as he watched Jack strike a pose with his arms straight out behind him, leaning forwards with his head down, "Now this," he explained, "was my pose with Space Patrol Delta. I think Sky stole it when he took over as red ranger, but I'm not sure."

Everyone turned to Mack expectantly.

"What do you want me to do?" Mack asked eyes darting back and forth.

"How flexible are you?" Shane asked, "I mean, my pose was pretty simple because I had a harder time with holding positions. We could just have your pose being with your arms. Then you need to call out your rank."

"Rank?"

"Red Overdrive Ranger," Conner explained.

Mack frowned, "Can't everyone tell that already?"

"Just do it."

Jack got out of his position, "Alright, try to copy what I was just doing."

Mack let out a sigh. If it was going to get him out of here…He attempted to follow what Jack had done, but found himself on the floor when Shane kicked his back leg out from underneath him. The floor was made of wood and it wasn't a pleasant experience for the soon to be ranger.

"He's not sturdy enough in that position,"

"Well if someone hadn't kicked me!"

"Just do something with his arms," Conner sighed as the clipboard he's been holding at the beginning had reappeared and he was jotting down notes, "we only have so long before people start to notice he's gone."

Jack frowned but Shane appeared to be quite happy as he positioned himself behind Mack and began moving the younger man's arms, "Can you snap?"

"Yes, but what does that have-"

"Do it."

Mack snapped and Shane maneuvered his right arm in a closed fist forwards across his body, his left arm followed so that his left fist was aligned with his right elbow. Then his right arm was drawn back completely straight while his left was extended fully, turning him slightly.

Mack waited for more instruction but none came, "That's it?" he asked.

"Yup and while you do it, say your name, and poof you're done."

"Seems kind of pointless-"

"IT'S TRADITION!"

Mack jumped back as all three former red rangers yelled at him. He nodded quickly, "Yeah I got that part!"

Shane smiled, "Well he learns quickly, now come on, do it all together and say your name and then you can practice the morphing call."

Snapping Mack repeated the motions with few flaws, "Red Overdrive Ranger."

The three eyed him for a few moments.

"Needs more feeling," Jack decided, "you don't sound like you like being a ranger."

Mack glared at him, "You're all insane you realize this don't you? I'm not a ranger-"

But they talked over him, not really caring what the new guy had to say.

"Yell it really loud," Conner insisted stretching his arms up.

Mack let out a sound that sounded strangely like a dog's growl before he repeated the motions, yelling as best he could, "RED OVERDRIVE RANGER"

It was received with a clap from one of the men watching and turned to see a new guy with spiky hair was actually doing it. He held the strange cell phone Conner had earlier in his hand.

"Bit ruff around the edges," he remarked pocketing the phone, "alright, so you've gotten started on the role call already, that's good cause we only have what? An hour and a half to get him back? What's been done?"

"Well, we've gone over the role model and Zordon's rules, measured him for the suit, pose and roll call…hey, we're doing pretty well," Conner remarked, "oh, but he doesn't have a lot of red in his wardrobe."

"We'll get someone to take him shopping." The other man replied waving it off, "I'm Tommy Oliver, welcome to the Power Rangers family. Alright, we're going to get started on your morphing call now."

"Isn't this all going a bit fast?" Mack asked, his head was hurting from everything that was being crammed into it.

"We don't have a lot of time and we still need to teach you how to pilot a Zord."

Mack had absolutely no clue what he was talking about.

"Which reminds me, be careful of the explosions that will appear behind you after role call."

Mack was suddenly very concerned as Tommy came over to him and began trying to explain how to properly hold his morpher that turned out to be the strange cell phone thingy. What numbers to push was the first thing he learned, the next was the motions and the call of "Overdrive Accelerate."

"You might want to try it all together, the morph and the role call," Tommy explained, "If you do it right we'll take you to weapons and Zord training and hopefully have you in bed so you can get another hours sleep…"

At that Mack perked up, "Take me home? For sleep?" he asked eagerly as the others nodded, "fine, I'll do it," he repeated the motions and announced, "OVERDRIVE ACCELERATE" he punched the buttons on the keypad and suddenly found himself in a ranger uniform. He nearly fell over, but continued hoping it would get him home, he snapped and moved his arms accordingly, "RED OVERDRIVE RANGER." Much to his surprise an explosion randomly appeared behind him in the room.

Startled he jumped away, causing the sparks that were raining down to hit his uniform. It began to burn and soon most of his suit was on fire.

"AH! Hot! Hot!"

Conner winced, "Where's Carter when you need him?" Shane nodded in agreement.

"Stop drop and role!" Tommy snapped as Mack did just that. Eventually the fire was smothered out and much to Mack's surprise; through all of the pain, the suit was somehow still in tact. Tommy just rolled his eyes, "You can't move during role call or that's what happens…"

"Now you tell me…"

Conner shook his head disappointedly and wrote something down on the clipboard.

"Well," Shane sighed, "it was close enough."

Jack sniffed as he watched the display, "They grow up so fast."

Shane patted him on the back comfortingly.

Mack began running his now gloved hands over his helmet in awe and jumped backwards when he accidentally activated a headlight on his helmet that made a lance appear in his hand. He let out a slight yelp and Tommy laughed.

"Come on, I'll take you to weapons," Conner insisted as he grabbed the morphed ranger's gloved hand and tugged him, (still holding the lance dumbfounded) towards yet another room.

In it there was a man with long brown and blonde hair, wearing a grey and red uniform of some type. He raised his eyebrows as Conner entered.

"Tommy sure programmed that thing fast."

"I think it was Hayley's doing really," Conner replied shoving Mack forwards, "Mack, meet Andros, Andros, this is Mack. Mack isn't the sharpest tool in the shed…"

"Ironic to hear you saying that," Andros muttered, "why does he have his weapon?"

"Did he just burn me?" Conner asked frowning then decided the question was better left unanswered "He summoned it by accident. It's an easy thing to do," Conner defended as Mack put the lance down and attempted to take of his helmet.

"Don't do that!" Andros snapped, halting Mack instantly, "you need to get used to having it on."

Mack froze, "Uh…okay," he became suddenly aware just how loud his voice sounded through the helmet… "Shouldn't my voice be muffled or something?"

Andros shook his head, "Course not, ranger suits are magical. Your voice will always sound clear through them. Now the main part of fighting as a ranger is not the actual fighting ability you have, it's how loud your 'hiyas' are" Andros explained taking the lance out of Mack's hands and throwing it aside.

Mack paused, "Say what?"

"HIYAH!" Andros screamed as he side kicked the unsuspecting ranger who freaked out, but managed to dodge the kick at the last minute, "rangers are known for their battle cries."

"I think I want to go home now," Mack muttered "Power rangers are really strange people."

"Now I want to hear a hiyah"

"Excuse me?"

"Come on newbie, let's go."

Mack glanced over at Conner who put his hands up, "Hey! I'm just your evaluator, now do what the man says."

Mack grumbled something to himself, "hiyah," he sighed half-heartedly.

Immediately Andros went into a weird drill sergeant type mode, "I said I want a hiyah! You got it?"

"Fine!" Mack shrieked angrily, "HIYAH!" with that he kicked out, connecting with Andros's arm as the older man went to block.

Andros was startled a bit by the new ranger's outburst and easily flipped Mack so he was lying on the ground. Mack whacked his head to Andros's, stunning the Space ranger since Mack had a helmet on and Andros didn't. It wasn't long before random objects were telekinetically flying across the room at the morphed ranger. Mack and Conner made a quick retreat.

"What are you doing?" Conner nearly yelled as he slammed the Overdrive ranger into a wall, "You can't make Andros mad!"

"Why?"

Conner frowned as he thought about this, "well for one thing, you won't get your lance back, and you'd look like a pretty stupid power ranger without a weapon. I must say, you seem to be pretty emotional, that's good though, red rangers are normally angered easily…we just need to work on the knowing when to hold you tongue so you don't get killed…"

Mack grabbed the back of his helmet and took it off to reveal his hair was somehow still perfectly in place, "What's left?" he sighed.

Conner looked down at the clipboard as he released the ranger, "Uh…Zord piloting is all that's left and we better hurry, that normally takes a while."

Once led into yet another room Mack found himself unimpressed by what he found.

"It's a red dump truck…"

"Ah! But it's **your** red dump truck," came a voice from behind them. They turned to see a Hispanic man behind them.

"Mack, this is Mr. Meyers and Mr. Collins, Eric, Wes, this is Mack"

"Hey! You're the guys who kidnapped me!" Mack blurted out as he maneuvered his helmet so he was holding it by his side.

Wes smiled weakly, "Kidnapped is such a strong word…"

"Look kid, we're going to teach you how to work this thing, then you can go back to your nice little mansion, got it?" Eric snapped causing Mack to back up slightly.

"If you guys really are rangers, and not just crazy, you might want to try using the telephone or something before you kidnap people and take them to the weirdest place ever!"

Conner smiled, "It's really like an alternate dimension where all rules set down by Albert Einstein and the space-time continuum really has no merit."

"You know Conner, that almost sounded half intelligent," Eric remarked.

"Thanks," Conner replied then paused, "I think."

"Sheesh, you're even slower that I am," Mack sighed as Wes and Eric each grabbed one of his arms and pulled him into the dump truck Zord, "I'm going I swear."

"It's just like driving a car," Wes tried to reassure Mack as he forced him down into the seat and pushed the helmet back onto Mack's head, "you need to be alert."

"So no drinking and driving eh?" Mack asked trying to make a joke.

Conner frowned as he tried to squeeze into the tight cockpit with Eric, Wes, and Mack, "No alcoholic beverages! You're only eighteen! What would the kiddies think?"

" Well what if I went to Canada?"

"No dice!"

Mack rolled his eyes behind his helmet as Wes began pushing buttons. Suddenly the panels in front of them lighted up and Mack felt himself getting claustrophobic. This area was pretty small…

"Now if you push this-"

"This isn't the Q-Rex Eric, he needs to hit this one-"

"What does this button do?" Mack wondered as the two behind him argued.

Most people know those are famous last words…

He clicked the button, then heard a loud crash and felt a shudder through the Zord that made all of the rangers stop talking. Conner smacked his forehead with his open palm.

"Please tell me you didn't put it in reverse and through the wall…"

Mack flushed as red as parts of his costume, "Uh…"

"You don't have a driver's license, do you?" Wes sighed, "Use to chauffeurs?"

"Well how was I supposed to know what that button did?" Mack shot back then muttered, "Well…yeah"

"He is not going to be able to pilot a Megazord if he can't get this right," Eric sighed as Conner began checking things off on his clipboard, "what are you writing down?"

"Hey! This thing has a radio!" Mack exclaimed happily pushing yet another button without thinking.

Wes's eyes bulged, "That's not a radio!"

But the warning came to late as a blast was fired out of the front of the zord, destroying yet another wall.

"How did you get passed role call?" Eric muttered angrily.

"Well, he sort of didn't," Conner sighed as Mack winced behind his helmet, "he managed to catch himself on fire when the explosion went off, but Tommy thought it was close enough."

"Caught himself on fire…well that's a first…" Wes replied raising an eyebrow, "you know what would be a good song to play if we did have a radio?"

"What?"

"I'll make a man out of you! From Mulan!" Wes exclaimed happily as Eric groaned.

"You are too chipper right now…"

After another fourty-five minutes of struggling to get Mack somewhat competent in how to drive his own Zord they had made some progress, but time was running out and Wes and Eric both realized they needed Mack back in bed before Mack's father realized his son was gone. The security around the mansion was good, but the Silver Guardians were better, providing nothing immediately alerted him.

Powering down and handing his morpher over to Conner, he watched as Conner wrote down a few more notes, "So? How'd I do?"

Conner thought for a few moments, "Well, better than Nick, and we'll just leave it at that. See you next year."

That's when Mackenzie Harford woke up. His eyes snapped open and he realized he was at home…in bed. He looked around his room a few times, taking in the familiar site of the mangas spread out on the floor and the few posters he had up. He looked around.

"What the heck was that dream about?" he asked himself aloud then looked over at his closet.

He suddenly felt the urge to go shopping for red clothes.

* * *

How deliciously random was that?

Please Review

♥


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